Cynicism

Cynicism (Greek: κυνισμός) is a school of thought of ancient Greek philosophy as practiced by the Cynics (Greek: Κυνικοί, Latin: Cynici). For the Cynics, the purpose of life is to live in virtue, in agreement with nature. As reasoning creatures, people can gain happiness by rigorous training and by living in a way which is natural for themselves, rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, sex, and fame.

Google AdSenseGuest Advertisement

Unfortunately, you can't use the word in modern English conversation and expect anyone to understand what you mean.
The term "cynic" has undergone several conversions over the last two thousand years, first to mean something like 'rebel, radical'; one who rejects
the mores of his society, later to mean 'selfish, unconcerned'; then to mean 'ruthless, unscrupulous' and most recently as a synonym for 'negative; pessimistic or sardonic'.

Epicureanism would probably have little meaning for most, whereas Cynic is a word that nearly everyone can pull a definition, even for a commoner such as myself. Had you not offered a link, I would have no idea what the word might mean.

I like this way of thinking. It doesn't gel with what I think of with "cynicism". Living in a way that is natural for yourself has a way more positive connotation than the conventional definition for the word.